US Business Groups Concerned By NZ Tobacco Sales Proposals

US Business Groups Issue
Statement Expressing Deep Concern Following Announcement by
the New Zealand government of a Public Consultation to
Review the Mandated Destruction of Trademarks and Branding
in the Tobacco Sector

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue, the Emergency Committee
for American Trade, the National Association of
Manufacturers, the United States Council for International
Business and the National Foreign Trade Council issued the
following statement in light of the New Zealand
government’s announcement that it is pursuing a public
consultation regarding plain packaging for tobacco
products:

"It is most troubling that as efforts are
underway to deepen the opportunities for economic growth and
opportunity between the United States and New Zealand, we
now find that the New Zealand government is considering the
destruction of an industry's legitimate trademark protection
and branding – rights long protected under law and
international treaties.

"While there is no question
that protecting public health is a legitimate objective,
there is also no question that trademarks and other forms of
intellectual property stimulate innovation and are essential
to building vibrant economies. There is no fact-based
evidence which suggests that mandating the destruction of
intellectual property (IP) will advance public health. We
firmly believe the measure in question could instead
undermine public health as a result of unintended
consequences, such as an increased influx of counterfeit
tobacco products.

"New Zealand has made binding
commitments under international obligations to protect IP
while it has no such obligation to mandate plain packaging
of tobacco products. There are numerous methods to
effectively regulate the tobacco industry that do not
undermine the protection of IP, do not have such damaging
unintended consequences, and are consistent with New
Zealand’s international trade obligations. New Zealand, as
a world leader in the international trading system, surely
recognizes the critical importance of abiding by
international trade rules and the value of not undermining
that system. We do not believe the current international
trading system in any way impedes the ability of governments
to regulate in the public interest. But, the mandated
trademark destruction through government imposed plain
packaging does violate international trade rules.

"New Zealand has long called upon trading partners to
avoid arbitrary measures not sufficiently grounded in
science when regulating industry. The destruction of
branding and the related trademarks of an industry without
reliable evidence to support these actions defy these
long-held views that science should be the foundation of
regulation. This assault on trademark represents a
fundamental challenge to the global IP system we have fought
hard to build. Although presently this effort is only
confined to tobacco products, we see this as a systemic
threat to rules which intellectual property and the trading
system is dependent upon. We hope the New Zealand government
will consider the concerns we have raised for the possible
impact on New Zealand exports, such as dairy and wine,
should other governments feel emboldened to take similar
measures.

"As leading representatives of
business, we rely on the rules-based international trade
framework to sustain economic growth, employment, innovation
and prosperity. We encourage governments, including in New
Zealand, to reflect on not only the importance of the rules
based international system in their actions, but also the
science and evidentiary basis for such an extreme step, and
call upon the New Zealand government to place the effort in
the well-intentioned, yet ill-advised, category."

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